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Tamer M. Ammar isn’t considered a flight risk from charges of vehicular homicide while DWI and reckless endangerment, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
He also agreed that the cost of incarcerating Ammar until a trial or plea would have been exorbitant, given his medical needs. Bail is set to ensure a defendant shows up for court.
Last year, a shoplifting defendant with cancer who was initially ordered held on $15,000 bail was released from the Bergen County Jail after authorities reported that her chemotherapy treatments were costing $40,000 a year.
Speaking generally, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT: “When people in the jail have medical issues, taxpayers have to pay for that.”
Many doubted that Ammar would survive injuries that included bleeding of the brain following the pre-dawn July 24 crash near the Ridgefield circle.
He was in a coma for months, confined to a hospital bed at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, before being transferred to the rehab center.
Authorities said he was speeding when he lost control of his 2014 Civic as it headed north on Broad Avenue toward the circle the night of the crash. After barreling through bus-stop signs and into oncoming traffic over a stretch of nearly a quarter-mile, the car slammed into the side of an accounting business at the circle.
Killed was fellow Fort Lee High School athlete Miles Reme, 20. Injured was another 20-year-old FLHS graduate, James Racanelli. Ammar is a former high school football player, while Reme played baseball and Racanelli wrestled.
Besides the DWI death by auto and reckless endangerment counts, Ammar was issued several summonses for, among other offenses, DWI, reckless driving, careless driving, driving over the sidewalk and failing to keep right.
State Motor Vehicle Commission records show that Ammar was ticketed nearly two years ago for DUI in Fairview, leading to a seven-month driver’s license suspension.
He also has charges on his record for reckless driving, in Virginia, for prescription drug distribution, in Connecticut, and for marijuana distribution in 2013 out of Fort Lee (which resulted in the mugshot above).
A lawsuit filed by Racanelli’s family in September contends that Ammar’s father should have known of his son’s DWI and criminal history when he gave him the car that night.
PHOTO: Courtesy Nj.com / INSET: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF
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